, you know, the black people were miserable, the whites were kind of cruel and indifferent. and that's actually not true at all. in washington, um, in washington -- washington had about 30,000 people then as a city, 12,000 of them were black. the majority of the black people in washington actually in 1830 were free, were not slaves out of the 12,000 black people, slightly more than half were free. >> what led to washington, d.c.'s first race riots in 1835, and what part did francis scott key play? jefferson morley recounts this almost forgotten chapter in american history in "snowstorm in august," monday night at 10 eastern part of c-span2's booktv. >> washington post correspondent and author rajiv command chandr. his newest book "the little america." mr. chandrasekaran, when you talk about little america, what are you talking about? >> guest: i'm talking about this remarkable community that the americans built in the deserts of southern afghanistan not in the last couple years, but six decades ago. back when, unknown to most of our countrymen, there were dozens and dozens of america